Today, two-time Academy Award® winner Renée Zellweger’s iconic heroine, created by author Helen Fielding, has been immortalised in statue form as everyone’s favourite big-knickered, hopelessly romantic Londoner, Bridget Jones, became the latest star to join the celebrated Scenes in the Square trail.
The brand-new dynamic statue was unveiled by Sally Phillips and Renée Zellweger herself, alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor and Leo Woodall, her cast mates from the latest iteration of the franchise – Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy. Director Michael Morris and Working Title co-chairman Eric Fellner also joined the unveiling, where throngs of fans watched Bridget Jones become immortalised as part of London’s history. Helen Fielding, author and creator of Bridget Jones, was also in attendance.
Renée Zellweger, Bridget herself, comments: “I may have been born in Texas, but London has always felt like a second home to me. It’s an honour to know that the mark Bridget has left on the city of London will now be everlasting. I’m grateful to have played a part in that.”
The new statue is located at the home of film and entertainment, London’s Leicester Square, and captures Bridget in all her perfectly imperfect glory, standing shoulder to shoulder alongside the likes of Harry Potter, Batman, Paddington, Wonder Woman and Mary Poppins.
Bridget first burst into our lives in Helen Fielding’s era-defining novel Bridget Jones’s Diary before hitting the big screen in 2001 as a blockbuster Working Title film that introduced us to “Smug Marrieds” and “f***wits,” and made us believe that just as we are might actually be enough. Kind, smart and relatable, Bridget loved a cocktail and a cigarette but couldn’t seem to catch a break when it came to love or sex (or rather, both). Obliterating the Jane Austen-esque archetype of the upright, virginal ingenue that had shaped romantic books and movies for more than a century, Bridget Jones was a cultural supernova: Elizabeth Bennett on a bender, swearing like a sailor and sleeping with her boss.
The British film franchise, produced by Working Title Films, has continued to break convention and set box office milestones, with the franchise earning a gobsmacking $900 million worldwide. With this year’s hit Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy bringing her story full circle, the new statue is a fitting toast to a true British cultural icon, and is unveiled just in time for the 25th anniversary year of the first film.
Released in January 2025, Universal Pictures, StudioCanal and Miramax’s Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, a Working Title production, directed by Michael Morris, became the latest hit in the record-shattering British franchise, marking an end of a culture defining era.
As part of the trail, Bridget Jones is the first Scenes in the Square statue to honour a romantic comedy, and has joined a line-up of classic icons from the past 100 years of cinema, including Harry Potter, Batman, Wonder Woman, Mary Poppins and the most recent addition, Daniel Kaluuya’s character, Chris Washington, from the horror film Get Out. The original statue line up was unveiled 5 years ago as a free trail for the public to celebrate and explore the location’s film heritage and star studded red carpet premieres it is known for. Scenes in the Square is an initiative run by Discover Leicester Square, supported by Westminster City Council.
Helen Fielding, author of the Bridget Jones books, comments: “For Bridget to be honoured as a British Icon with her own statue alongside Paddington Bear, Mary Poppins and Admiral Lord Nelson (alright, he’s down the road a bit!) is a huge thrill and reason for everyone to raise a glass of Chardonnay to being ‘just as you are.’ I am touched and delighted for Bridget and Renée and hope that Bridget’s Mummy Pants will ensure a sleek silhouette for this exciting statue unveiling.”
